Noisy dope bust in Bridgeport

Daniel Tepfer

Updated 11:00 pm, Monday, March 18, 2013

BRIDGEPORT -- Police said a local man, who was running a marijuana growing operation, attracted their attention by playing loud music that disturbed his neighbors late Saturday night.

When officers went to Pawel A. Pienczykowski's Pequonnock Street apartment to quell the noise, they said they could smell marijuana.

After a few knocks, police said Pienczykowski, 25, answered the door and appeared nervous. Police said through the open door they saw what appeared to be a handgun behind him. The handgun, which was determined to be a facsimile, was seized.

About a dozen people were detained in the kitchen as more officers arrived to conduct a sweep of the apartment.

Police said in one room they noticed soil on the floor, empty flour pots and a projection TV with a loose front screen and a marijuana plant protruding from the side.

They subsequently found more than 100 grams of harvested marijuana, several plants still in pots, a large growing tent, heat lamps and other items used in a growing operation. Police also seized 12 pills that tested positive for amphetamines.

Pienczykowski said he rented the apartment with his roommate Jose Berrios, also 25.

Both were arrested for operating a drug factory, cultivating marijuana and additional marijuana and narcotics offenses.

One juvenile was charged with marijuana possession and released on a promise to appear in juvenile court.

Seven other people were questioned and released without charges. One unidentified man jumped out of the second-floor window and fled.